Joseph Mutua honked ceaselessly on Wednesday as he announced his arrival at a bus terminus in Donholm, Nairobi, Kenya, where together with other motorbike transport riders wait for passengers.
He had ferried a female passenger to a home in the suburb about 15 minutes earlier, and thus was happy to be back.
He pressed the bike's horn for the last time before he stopped, removed his helmet and gloves, parked the machine nicely and sat on it.
His antics showed that Mutua was enjoying his work, thanks to his new motorbike that he bought over two months ago.
"I bought this bike after using the other for over three years. It is from China and so far so good," said Mutua of the motorcycle branded Haojin.
Mutua said he spent about 870 U.S. dollars on the machine that he bought from a shop in downtown Nairobi.
"The bulk of the money was from my savings and the cash I got from selling the other bike, but I topped up with a 212 dollar loan from our savings group. Buying the motorbike is one of the best decisions I have done this year," he noted.
Since he started using the machine, he has not taken it for repair, not even for minor fixes like punches or brake failure which are a common problem many bikes used in the transport industry face.
"I liked the bike because it has good suspension, a strong frame, the tyres are hardy and have firm grip of the road, it has a loud horn and it is spacious, which means once in a while I can carry two passengers to maximise profits although I know that is illegal," he said.
Mutua was influenced to buy the machine by his cousin who works at a motorbike spare parts shop in Nairobi.
"I used to ask him for various spare parts for my previous motorbike quite frequently. One week I would buy tyres, another week gears, the starter and even the brake pads or chain. He saw I was using a lot of money and advised me to buy another bike."
He mentioned to him the brand and Mutua went shopping for the machine. After comparing prices in various shops he settled on one that was offering the best.
"I now make more money because I spend more time scouting for customers than repairing my bike," said Mutua, who has put on the machine a shade to protect his customers from the sun and rain.
As many other riders, Mutua starts his day at 5:30 a.m. He picks two students from a home in the area and ferries them to a nearby school.
"Morning is the peak time. I then go at the terminus at wait for customers. There is usually good business at this time because of traffic jams. Those who want to save time hire us," said Mutua, adding that he has influenced at least three of his colleagues to buy the bike.
Once the morning rush is over, the number of customers declines which means he finds time to rest. At 4 p.m., he goes to pick the students and ferries them back home, earning from the work 1.3 dollars each day.
He closes business at 10 p.m. or sometimes late in the night if there is work.
"In a day I make up to 14 dollars, which is not bad money because it sustains my family of three. Initially, a good chunk of it used to go to repairs but this has stopped."
About 10 km from Donholm, in Kayole, Collins Mukhwana who rides a Focin machine noted that he went for it because of its low cost.
"It is a Chinese-made machine. I can tell because of some of the writing on the bike. Most of the bikes from China are fairly priced making many people be able to acquire them. If it was not for the Chinese, I would not have bought my own machine," said Mukhwana, who spent about 750 dollars on the machine, after being employed for two years.
Other popular motorbike brands in Kenya both from China and elsewhere, some which are manufactured locally, are Jingchen, TVS, Ranger, Boxer, Star, Hero, Lion and Premier.
Motorbikes remain the most bought motor vehicles in the East African nation, with new registrations standing at 218,057 in 2014, according to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics.
Of the over 600,000 jobs created in the country last year according to the statistics agency, the bulk was in the transport sector, mainly motorbike riders in the business known as boda boda in Kenya.
